Arrests follow police drug raids

One of the two men arrested and charged with P-manufacture or supply offences after armed police raided homes in Welcome Bay and Arataki yesterday remains behind bars.

Former bank officer Troy Kakau, 31, from Arataki, appeared in Tauranga District Court today facing one charge each of possession of methamphetamine and possession of precursor equipment, namely a parr bomb intended to be used to manufacture P.Kakau is due back in court on December 12.

The other male, labourer Isaac Shane Kilby, 27, from Welcome Bay, faces one charge of offering to supply methamphetamine between October 1 and November 28 this year.Kilby, who is yet to plead to the charge has been bailed to a Ngongotaha address on strict conditions.

He is also due back in caught on December 14.

The charges stem from a massive police operation yesterday in which more than 50 police staff from Tauranga and Rotorua swooped on three houses in Welcome Bay and Arataki. Today the houses are undergoing forensic examination by the Auckland-based clandestine drug lab team and ESR scientists.